There is a need for varying and adjusting the flexibility and stiffness of associated devices, apparatus and equipment to customize to a user's unique needs, and to the requirements of a particular task or desired outcome.
For example, in recent years, as it relates to the category of sports and fitness equipment, manufacturers and marketers have increasingly turned to different kinds of methods to enhance the customization and performance of sporting and fitness equipment. In some cases, entire lines of sporting equipment have been developed whose stiffness or flexibility characteristics are different from each other and are designed to be matched to the user's unique needs. Such differences, however, may be enough to give the individual equipment user an edge over the competition in that the equipment can be more personally customized, matched to a desired goal, and, therefore, enhance performance.
Until now, the user may choose a particular piece of sporting or fitness equipment having a desired stiffness or flexibility characteristic and, during play, switch to a different piece of sporting equipment that is slightly more flexible or stiffer to suit changing playing conditions or to help compensate for weariness or fatigue or some other anomaly that prevents optimum performance. Such switching, of course, is subject to the availability of different pieces of sporting or fitness equipment from which to choose, at the precise moment the change or adjustment is needed. In many cases, the availability is limited due to cost and over all impracticability.
Additionally, subtle but important changes in the stiffness or flexibility characteristics of sporting or fitness equipment may not be available between different pieces of sporting equipment, because the characteristics may be set by the manufacturer from the choice of materials, design, etc., and to change the characteristics would be impossible, as such customization isn't offered to the user. Further, the user must have the different pieces of sporting equipment nearby during play or they are essentially in practice unavailable to the user.
Thus, it can be seen how the lack of adjustability in stiffness and flexibility may adversely affect optimum performance of a device, apparatus, and equipment.
Turning to additional types of devices, apparatus and equipment, it can be seen how the lack of a practical means of adjustability in stiffness and flexibility may adversely affect performance.
Medical Devices, Apparatus, and Equipment
Medical devices, apparatus and equipment, such as braces that are used for supporting injured limbs, require the flexibility of the device to be adjusted based on the degree of the injury, type of surgery, and the progress of the healing of the injured party. Further, there is a need for on-going protection even after recovery. Yet the degree of adjustability of braces is limited, and, in most cases, fixed. Adjustability of the flexibility of the brace the brace to the specific needs and requirements of the user, may enhance recovery and protection from further injury.
Medical braces are commonly used to support joints, e.g., elbows, knees, ankles, etc., either to protect the joint during strenuous activities or to provide support when the joint has been injured and is healing. Sports braces are commonly used to support joints when participating in athletic activities.
One type of brace is a simple bandage that wraps around the joint, applying a compression force around the joint. Another type of brace is an exoskeleton that locks the joint in a particular configuration.
The exoskeleton type knee brace, which is typically attached between a thigh and a calf, is commonly used to support the body's weight and maintain the intervening knee in a fixed plane of articulation, with the principle axial bend registered below the medial and lateral condyle of the femur. The brace distributes the user's weight around the knee so that the intervening knee is relieved of the pressure that is placed on it by the user's weight. By removing the pressure of the user's weight from the knee, further damage to the knee is avoided and a damaged knee recovers.
Fitness Devices, Apparatus, and Equipment
Fitness equipment, apparatus and devices require the creation of different amounts of resistance to perform the exercise. For example, with free-weight training the user must change the weight levels to progressively increase the resistance that the user experiences. This often involves the continued and time consuming adjustment of equipment through an exercise cycle and makes changes impractical at best, and at the least a hassle.
Numerous heavy metal plates, large oily machines, weights, rubber bands, and singular resistance rods are the many known forms of fitness training. When the user changes resistance/weight or machine during an exercise set, it is time consuming and interrupts the user's conditioning.
Running Shoes, Training Shoes, Basketball Shoes
The transmission of the shoe wearer's strength (power) from their legs into the ground is directly affected by the sole stiffness of the shoe. Runners may gain more leverage and, thus, more speed by using a stiffer sole. Basketball players may also affect the height of their jumps through the leverage transmitted by the sole of their shoes. If the sole is too stiff, however, the toe-heel flex of the foot is hindered. Thus, athletic shoes are tailored, by the manufacturer, to the particular sport to which the shoe is to be used. In some case, it may be possible for the user have the ability to tailor the sole stiffness to his/her individual weight, strength, height, running style, and ground conditions. However, this process is performed by the manufacturer and is beyond the ability of the average user.
Golf
Golf clubs may be formed of graphite, wood, titanium, glass fiber or various types of composites or metal alloys. Each material varies to some degree with respect to stiffness and flexibility. However, golfers generally carry onto the golf course only a predetermined number of golf clubs. Varying the stiffness or flexibility of the golf club is not possible, unless the golfer brings another set of clubs. Nevertheless, it is impractical to carry a large number of golf clubs onto the course, wherein each club having a slight nuance of difference in flexibility and stiffness than another. Golf players prefer taking onto the course a set of clubs that are suited to the player's specific swing type, strength and ability.
Hockey
Hockey (hockey includes, but is not limited to, ice hockey, street hockey, roller hockey, held hockey and floor hockey) players may require that the flexure of the hockey stick be changed to better assist in the wrist shot or slap shot needed at that particular junction of a game or which the player was better at making.
Younger players may require more flex in the hockey stick due to lack of strength; such flex may mean the difference between the younger player being able to lift the puck or not when making a shot since a stiffer flex in the stick may not allow the player to achieve such lift. In addition, as the younger players ages and increases in strength, the player may desire a stiffer hockey stick, which in accordance with conventional means the hockey player would need to purchase additional hockey stick shafts with the desired stiffness and flexibility characteristics. Indeed, to cover a full range of nuances of differing stiffness and flexibility characteristics, hockey players would have available many different types of hockey sticks. Even so, the hockey player may merely want to make a slight adjustment to the stiffness or flexibility of a hockey stick to improve the nuances of the play; which is not possible with conventional technology.
Tennis
Tennis players also may want some stiffness and/or adjustability in their tennis rackets and to resist unwanted torsional effects caused by the ball striking the strings during play. The torsional effects may be more pronounced in the case where the ball strikes near the rim of the racket rather than the center of the strings.
Lacrosse
Lacrosse players use their lacrosse sticks to scoop up a lacrosse ball and pass the ball to other players or toward the goal. The stiffness or flexibility of the lacrosse stick may affect performance during the game.
Other Racket Sports
Other types of racket sports also suffer from the drawback of being unable to vary the stiffness and/or flexibility of the racket during the course of play to suit the needs of the player at that time, whether those needs arise from weariness, desired held positions, or training for improvement. Such racket sports include racquetball, paddleball, squash, badminton, and court tennis.
For conventional rackets, the stiffness and flexibility is set by the manufacturer and invariable. If the player tires of such characteristics being fixed or otherwise wants to vary the stiffness and flexibility, the only practical recourse is to switch to a different racket whose stiffness and flexibility characteristics better suit the needs of the player at that time.
Skiing, Snowboarding, Snow Skating, Ski-Boarding
Skis are made from a multitude of different types of materials and dimensions, the strength and flexibility of each type differing to a certain extent. Skis include those for downhill, ice skiing, cross-country skiing and water-skiing. For soft snow conditions, the rider may want to have more flexibility so as to allow the board to float. For icier conditions, the rider may want to stiffen the highback to provide greater leverage and power, which results in greater edge control.
Bicycle Shoes
Bicycle specific shoes are rigid and may or may not be attached to bicycle pedals usually through a binding or clip mechanism that prohibits the shoe from slipping of the pedal. The shoe is positioned on the pedal so the ball of the foot is directly over the pedal. The rider's foot flexes as the pedal moves. However, the bicycle shoe is designed for pedaling and walking in these shoes is uncomfortable.
Fishing Rods
Fishing rods are flexed for casting out a line. The whip effect from the casting is affected by the stiffness or flexibility of the rod. Depending upon the fishing conditions and the individual tastes of the user, the user may prefer the rod to be either more flexible or stiffer to optimize the whip effect of the cast and to deal with wind, current, types of fish, and the like. Thus, the user must select the type of flexibility or stiffness when purchasing the fishing rod.
Fins
Diving and swimming fins provide different degrees of stiffness that are fixed, and unchangeable. However, the need to have more flex or less flex and, thus, control fin bend is dependent on the changing conditions. Optimum performance that matches the conditions may be possible with dynamically adjustable fin spine(s). It would also be advantages in that the swimmer/diver would not be unnecessarily fatigued if they had proper matching flex to the conditions.
Sailboating and Sailboarding
Masts of sailboats and sailboards support sails. In many cases the users must adjust the amount of sail that is hanging from the mast according to the weather conditions to prevent damaging the mast caused by stress on the mast.
Canoeing, Rowboating and Kayaking
Paddles for canoes, row boats, and kayaks are subjected to forces as they are stroked through water. The flexibility or stiffness of the paddles, while different depending upon its design and materials, is fixed by the manufacturer. Thus, a rower who desired to change such characteristics would need to switch to a different type of paddle. Carrying a multitude of different types of paddles for use with a canoe, row boat or kayak, however, is generally impractical for the typical rower from the standpoint of cost, bulk and storage.
Lawn Rake
There are times when the flex of a rake's tines are either too flexible or too stiff for the task at hand, be it for raking gardens, light leaf, matted thatch, wet grass, debris. Often the user has to purchase a second rake to accommodate these additional needs.
Hence, there is a need in a plurality of industries in which adjustment of the flexibility or stiffness of a device, apparatus or equipment would be advantageous. Particularly, there is a need for an exoskeleton type brace that allows for additional flexibility in the brace and also the amount of pressure that is relieved from the knee.